PVC 4-wheel cart for CH kitty

Share creative ideas for building, sewing, adapting, or crafting things by hand for special needs pets. Find ideas for your homemade project here!
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CarolC
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Re: Trying to find wheels for Ishkur, CH kitty

Post by CarolC »

You are more than welcome. To me it's just funny. Hill's Hardware sent the first package so fast that it's no big deal. It would have been annoying if I'd had to wait 10 days for them to arrive and then found out they didn't fit, but this is totally cool. 8) Good luck!
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critters
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Re: Trying to find wheels for Ishkur, CH kitty

Post by critters »

We actually didn't glue anything but the cambered wheels, and, yeah, that was pretty hard.
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CarolC
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Re: Trying to find wheels for Ishkur, CH kitty

Post by CarolC »

The wheels arrived. No tracking on the new caster inserts yet. Found a box.

:bounce:
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Re: Trying to find wheels for Ishkur, CH kitty

Post by CarolC »

There's tracking now, it shows they are in New Jersey and scheduled for delivery on Jan 12. :waiting:

I have time to make the saddle, 3 days with nothing to do. I could make the height adjustable for multiple cats. If you could give the measurement from center of front leg to center of hind leg I could get a close fit. I tried to measure Libby and she wouldn't hold still. I got 8-9" which seems smaller than it looks like it should be. Just looking at her walking, I would have thought more like 10-11", and her thigh at the widest part (front to back) looks bigger than the diameter of a Pringles can. I might be able to make the saddle removeable so you don't have to take the wheelchair apart every time you want to wash it.

Was trying to think of what fabric to use. It would be nice to have some where the claws don't get too hung up in it when you try to put a cat in. That may be why the inventor in the video made big leg holes with a Pringles can. They look big, but getting the cat in, you probably want big holes. :D A firm, tightly woven fabric would be good.

Let me know on the measurement. I think I'm going over to Walmart to see what fabric they have, or if not then maybe repurpose something from the thrift store. Off to Walmart with an excuse to buy Pringles! :wink:

EDIT 5:30 PM: Got Pringles and 2" wide sew-on velcro. They make stick-on velcro designed to use on fabric, but I have no idea if it would last, sew-on seemed safer. W-M and the thrift store didn't have any fabric like I had in mind, maybe Hobby Lobby tomorrow.
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CarolC
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Re: Trying to find wheels for Ishkur, CH kitty

Post by CarolC »

Fabric is washed and dried. Ended up with some I had seen earlier at W-M. It's a dusty blue color. Bobbin is wound. Inserts are in Houston now, saying delivery Saturday.
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CarolC
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Re: Trying to find wheels for Ishkur, CH kitty

Post by CarolC »

It's going good. It's 1:00 PM and I stopped for lunch. Just need to bind the leg holes and put on the velcro. Tracking on the inserts says Out for delivery. There is a small chance I might get it mailed today, depending on when the inserts come and whether there are any issues sewing the velcro on. Will let you know.

P.S. The overall measure is 15" x 31" because she is a little kitty. I'm writing that here so if it doesn't fit (leg holes) I can make her another one. I also kept a paper pattern of the layout of the leg holes. If you get another kitty a different size that needs one later, I can make a saddle that size and you could use the same frame. Saddle could be as big as 21" x "31" if needed.

The fabric is easy to work with. It is a single-faced quilted fabric and fine woven so hopefully she won't hook into it too much when you're putting her in. I wanted double-faced but couldn't find any at W-M or Hobby Lobby, so I made it with 2 layers back to back which also makes it firmer. Back to work! :D
:sew:
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Bendy Kitty
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Re: Trying to find wheels for Ishkur, CH kitty

Post by Bendy Kitty »

DANG!!!! You've been quite busy!

I have discovered that putting a thundershirt on her helps quite a bit with the spasming, she was much happier and able to maintain an upright position on her belly, which she had not been able to do before at all.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/32NSGEXG1NawzWL4A

you could go into the cart making business!
In loving memory of Bendy Cute Kitty 9/15/00-4/23/12

Meet the cats at Bendy's Home http://www.alittletlc.com"
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CarolC
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Re: Trying to find wheels for Ishkur, CH kitty

Post by CarolC »

That's interesting about the compression, I never heard that. Huh! What a life improvement for her, that's big.
:trophy:

I'm looking at the pictures of her. I love the expression on her face. If you can get a ThunderShirt on her, getting her into a walker should be no problem. :)

Well, here's where we stand. The inserts arrived at 4:05 while I was finishing the velcro. The saddle is done and I thought maybe I could just barely make it to the PO, which is only a block from here, but can you believe, the inserts STILL don't fit. Aargh!!! This cart isn't going anywhere without inserts. I've tried 1/2" and today was 5/8". Next size, 3/4".

Here is what I'm thinking of doing. The red package of the inserts says "Do It" and I recognized that same logo on a sign of a hardware store in an outlying town north of here I passed through yesterday. Do It Best is a brand of hardware store. I almost stopped and went in to see if they had any 3/4" in stock, just in case the ones that were coming didn't fit, but I thought, "No, they'll probably fit and they might not even carry them anyway." So. Tomorrow morning I will call the Do It store and ask them if they carry 3/4". If they do, then I can run up there and pick some up and not have to wait another week for more to come off of eBay, even though the service has been fine on eBay, not criticizing them in any way. If they have some, then I can still mail it tomorrow because the main PO is open till at least 4 PM and it's not far. So that's the plan. Actually, I might try calling them right now, it's not even 5. Let me try and I'll post back in a minute, have to find the number.
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CarolC
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Re: Trying to find wheels for Ishkur, CH kitty

Post by CarolC »

OK, double posting, I don't care. He's got 'em. He's got 3/4". He's got 7/8". I'll go out there tomorrow. I see no reason why this can't still be in the mail tomorrow. He was really nice, I ended up explaining what was going on. Whew!!! We're back in business. The light isn't really good right now, but I'm going to see if I can get some pictures with overhead lighting anyway, this will be without wheels but you can see the saddle.

EDIT: Adding pics below. It will be 2" higher off the ground with the wheels on. The saddle is somewhat adjustable for height depending on how you velcro it.

The velcro wasn't too bad to sew. On the hook part you have to either walk the machine or go as slow as possible (mine doesn't like to go slow). I think what happens is the needle goes down through the hook part OK but when it is coming back up a hook will sometimes catch the fuzz on the thread and snarl it, then your thread breaks and you have to rethread. If you go slow enough you can see it start to snarl and stop and untangle it before it breaks, which would mean walking the machine down the length of the velcro, but it's faster to walk it than to have to keep stopping to rethread. The loop pieces are easier, you can just sew right through them no problem, they didn't catch the thread at all. On this project the 2 pieces at the ends are the hook pieces, the 4 pieces near the legs are loop pieces, and each piece is also stitched down the center to anchor it better.

Pringles for dinner!
walker1.PNG
walker2.PNG
walker_saddle_top_side.PNG
walker_saddle_underside.PNG
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Bendy Kitty
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Re: Trying to find wheels for Ishkur, CH kitty

Post by Bendy Kitty »

That is fantastic!!! wow!
Thank you so so so very much :) :)

She is a very smiley girl. She wants to interact with the other cats but when she gets excited her front legs wave all over and she ends up hitting them repeatedly. They don't understand why she is so rude. I let her bat me, she uses soft paws so at least she has claw control. She likes to watch movies with me, especially action scenes. She is over there in her cage bobbing and waving at me because she knows this is supposed to be movie time!

She wasn't thrilled about getting the thundershirt on, but it got on. She doesn't like my putting a diaper on her either, but we make it work as best we can. Normally I don't worry about the diaper, I just keep a towel under her and squeeze her out over the litterbox before lap time. after all tehse years it takes more than a bit of cat pee to phase me.
In loving memory of Bendy Cute Kitty 9/15/00-4/23/12

Meet the cats at Bendy's Home http://www.alittletlc.com"
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Bendy Kitty
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Re: Trying to find wheels for Ishkur, CH kitty

Post by Bendy Kitty »

at the risk of being pushy and overbearing, coudl I requset an extra saddle or two? those are really really nice.
In loving memory of Bendy Cute Kitty 9/15/00-4/23/12

Meet the cats at Bendy's Home http://www.alittletlc.com"
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CarolC
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Re: Trying to find wheels for Ishkur, CH kitty

Post by CarolC »

I could see in those first two pictures, she knows she is loved.

Yes, actually I thought the same thing about an extra saddle. :D Are you thinking about washing? The good news is, it should wash and drip dry fast. The backing which you can't see is netting (like tulle, wedding veil, you know), the batting is poly, and the woven top fabric is I think a poly/cotton blend, like 80/20. Watch me turn out to be wrong but I think that's close. I'll check the bolt next time I am back in the store, should have done that when I bought it. Anyway, when I washed it before it was sewn together, I literally ran it for 10 min on low in the dryer and it was done. I think if you swish it out in the sink and hang it over the shower rod it will dry in no time, it's nearly all synthetic, not like a cotton batt.

I was thinking multiple sizes. If you had a saddle in a bigger size it would work for another cat someday, on the same frame. But I guess if you get another cat, we could make one to fit then, but make an extra for Ishkur in her size now.

Well, let's see how this one fits her. I left the machine on the table on purpose. I'm just worried it will be too small after trying to measure my cats here and seeing the difficulty of that. :roll:

I'll let you know when (assuming) I get it mailed tomorrow and if you let me know if it fits then we'll know what is needed and can go from there. :D
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Re: Trying to find wheels for Ishkur, CH kitty

Post by CarolC »

Good news...the :present: for Ishkur is in the mail, scheduled to arrive Friday.

I went out to Do It Best this morning with a few inches of the PVC and the 2 sets of inserts that didn't work. Jason (who I talked to on the phone yesterday) opened up a pack of 3/4" and they were the right ones. If anyone can't find caster inserts at your local stores, see if there is a Do It Best around, or they are $1.79 on doitbest.com.

I showed him my Lowes receipt that said the PVC was 1/2" and he said, "I bet you got thin wall." He took me over to their PVC, CharlottePipe just like what I bought. We compared the inside of mine to the inside of theirs and theirs was thicker. He said the 1/2" inserts might have fit the regular kind. I didn't even know different walls existed, I just bought the kind on the end of the display that said 1/2" and didn't look at any details on the tag, if there were any.

When I got home and put them in the short pieces of PVC and pushed them into the tees, they stuck out the end of the fitting about 3/16". I don't know if it's something I did, or because the Lasco fittings are different than the inventor used, or both. On the video he says, "Push down firmly, these are very hard to get in but they do fit in." I leaned all my weight on it and they were in as far as I could get them, so I just had to leave it.

In the box I included one of those tools to take the PVC apart if needed. I can't imagine why you would need to, but you should definitely have the removal tool just in case. It is in a sack along with some homemade cat toys that will be under your fridge in about an hour.

I may run back over to W-M today and get some more of that fabric so I don't have to worry they will sell out before we find out how her saddle fits.
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Bendy Kitty
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Re: Trying to find wheels for Ishkur, CH kitty

Post by Bendy Kitty »

i didn't know PVC had different thickness walls either and I thought the measurements were the size of teh actual opening. ok learnede something about PVC. Jason sounds like a helpful guy, would he like a thank you kitten?
I will definitely let you know when it arrives! with my luck it will be during the few days I'm visiting my mom.

thank you again and again and again!!!!!!
hey do you need any thank you kittens?
In loving memory of Bendy Cute Kitty 9/15/00-4/23/12

Meet the cats at Bendy's Home http://www.alittletlc.com"
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CarolC
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Re: Trying to find wheels for Ishkur, CH kitty

Post by CarolC »

Ha Ha! No thank you on the thank you kittens. :D I don't want anything that might outlive me! :D Maybe you have a sitter coming who could bring the box in? I have tracking and could let you know...
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